As evidence by the complete transformation of Saturn from a plastic-bodied, college car brand to an imported reflection of the European Opel brand, General Motors is serious about sharing its platforms the world over. To that end, the company has announced that all future Chevrolet products will be built to accomodate left- or right-hand drive. It's reported that it will take five or six years for the process to be completed, since certain vehicles like the Chevy HHR were never developed with right-hand drive in mind and must complete their product cycles before right-hand drive can be engineered into their designs. New and upcoming vehicles, however, will be available soon. GM has already confirmed that the upcoming Camaro, for instance, will be capable of being built in right-hand drive, which gives those markets around the world that drive on the other side of the road some hope for seeing Camaro muscle on sale in their countries.
[Source: Newspress]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
JIm @ Mar 7th 2007 6:59PM
When the new'84 Corvette was introduced GM proclaimed this car would be sold all over the world. A Q & A session followed and one of the first questions was something along the lines of, "Well, now that you're going to sell throughout the world, you'll have a right hand drive version, right?" What followed was the deer in the headlights look. Let's hope GM has thought this through a little better this time.
Hans @ Mar 7th 2007 8:03PM
That's great and all, but could that guy look any more retarded in that squatty car.
far jr @ Mar 7th 2007 8:04PM
Does this mean "Chevy" cars or Chevy "platforms" will be right hand drive ready?
This may explain the dual arches on the new Malibu interior.
thisislame @ Mar 7th 2007 9:26PM
a fugly car.
david @ Mar 7th 2007 9:51PM
it's only fugly to you because you can't afford one. it's either that or gm only wants people with an iq above 20 and you don't qualify.
Sal @ Mar 7th 2007 10:36PM
David, lose the internet tough guy act. Just because someone thinks this car is fugly, doesn't have anything to do with their iq or their income. Your useless flames serve no purpose here except to ruin autoblog for true automotive fans.
Jeff Banks @ Mar 7th 2007 10:56PM
In truth, I never really liked the Camaro concept all that much either. The proportions look a bit off to me. I still think the Mustang still reigns in the looks department, even if it can't keep pace in the performance department.
Besides, isn't the Camaro not coming out until 2009 or something? I'm already sick of it and I have to hear about it for another two years. The crazy-ass Volt concept might beat it for all I know. GM needs to hold the reigns on their products a little better.
supercujo @ Mar 7th 2007 11:33PM
When the Camaro is being developed for production by the Holden division in Australia who has a proven track record with engineering right and left hand drive in the Monaro/Pontiac GTO and Commodore/Pontiac G8.
This also means that Holden can rebody a new Camaro and turn it into the new Monaro with relative ease.
Deezee @ Mar 8th 2007 3:24AM
Completely agree with #7.
I'm willing to see what the performance/price ratio of the Camaro is tho. But tt'll be tough to beat the Mustang.
flareak @ Mar 8th 2007 3:28AM
the car is pretty fat. testament to american design
James @ Mar 8th 2007 6:44AM
I'm not sure why GM are taking so long to get their new cars to market. By the time Americans get the Pontiac G8, some of the freshness of the design will be lost. Something GM can't afford with such a conservative design. Holden released the VE Commodore in August 2006. The US wont get the Pontiac G8(essentially the VE Commodore), until early 2008.
The previous generation Commodore, the VT, was released in Australia in 1997. The 2-door Commodore variant, the Pontiac GTO, reached the USA late 2003, six years later. You guys thought the GTO was dated and bland, and you were right. It wont surprise me to hear similar criticism aimed at the G8, when it finally arrives, at least one year too late.
MacroEQ @ Mar 8th 2007 8:26AM
It's no surprise to me that American car manufacturers are in crisis when they can't sell their vehicles outside of the U.S (i.e. in RHD countries e.g. UK and Japan).
If Japanese car companies can do it sucessfully in the U.S, then there is no reason why American companies haven't done it after all this time.
If this is "too little too late" time will tell...
Rick Lyon @ Mar 8th 2007 8:46AM
Wow, the neck cramps one will suffer.
Justin @ Mar 8th 2007 9:40AM
Sal, Thisislame's comments are pointless as well. This post isn't even about the specific vehicle, just a design trend GM has decided to pursue. He can go call it ugly all the wants on posts about the car itself.
Phil @ Mar 8th 2007 4:35PM
The time it will take to get this car to market shows again that Bob Lutz isn't good enough for this job.
And since everybody else has left/right hand drive designs, WHO CARES???
FrankTheCrank @ Mar 9th 2007 4:31PM
Excuse my ignorance...but with drive by wire which IS in production, you could stick the steering wheel in the damn trunk if you wanted to.
What's the story here? Worldwide domination? Yeah, China's got that one covered.
ragnar @ Mar 12th 2007 8:07AM
The more times I see that design, the less I like it. It really is "fugly". Like the Flintstones would have designed a car.